Ice Cream and Your Weight

It is summertime, and the sun is giving us the kind of heat that makes us crave foods that are cold and sweet, like ice cream. But there’s a question that comes to mind: does ice cream fall under the category of healthy foods? Does it make you fat? Should you feel guilty after each time you enjoy it?

We need calcium, the mineral that is best known for building bones. Ice cream has lots of calcium. But aside from building bones, calcium also helps control blood pressure. Most of us probably do not know that calcium also helps prevent colon cancer and diseases of the kidney. For women, calcium dampens the discomfort of PMS. And here’s the best news of all: calcium can help you lose that extra fat that makes your belly look less sexy. The head of the Department of Nutrition at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Dr. Michael Zemel, said after finishing his most recent research on dairy-rich food that “one of the benefits of eating a dairy-rich diet is that dairy is about twice as effective as calcium alone in augmenting weight loss. With the same level of calorie restriction, you lose approximately twice as much weight and twice as much fat on a dairy-rich diet, and you do a better job of preserving lean body mass.”

So, if you are trying to lose some weight, do not skip entirely on ice cream. You may have it every once in a while; don’t be afraid to down a small serving of your favorite ice cream flavor (just like what I have done before writing this) a couple of times each week. But remember that too much of anything is not good. Ice cream has saturated fat and lots of sugar, so people with diabetes should be cautious about having ice cream and must consult their doctor first about the kind of ice cream that they may have. Ice cream is also rich in sodium, so people with hypertension must also have their doctor’s advice before indulging themselves with the joy that ice cream gives.